Southern Poverty Law Center

by Jamie Kizzire A prisoner at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF) told the counselor that his heart was hurting and that he didn’t have a reason to live. He was also having hallucinations. As the counselor met with the prisoner in December 2013, he noticed that the man was attempting to cut himself with a small, dull object.

The number of far-right extremist groups fell significantly in 2013 for the first time in a decade, the SPLC found in its annual count, released today. But with a total of more than 2,000 groups, the radical right remains at historically high levels.

Alabama has the most overcrowded prisons in the nation and spends one of the lowest amounts, per inmate, on health care. The prison system contracts with Corizon Inc. to provide medical care and MHM Correctional Services to provide mental health care. In 2012, when the ADOC released a “Request for Proposal” for a new health care contract, applicants were scored on a 3,000 point scale. Out of a possible 3,000 points, contract price accounted for a possible 1,350 points. Qualifications and experience counted for only 100 points.

The ADOC renewed its contract with Corizon in 2012, even though Corizon (the company providing health care in Alabama prisons since 2007) failed every major audit of its health care operations in Alabama prisons under its first contract with the state.